


More of You

by starlux (ramenrulz8P)



Series: Always, In This Place (이자리에) - Wanna One Neighborhood/Childhood Friends AU [1]
Category: Wanna One (Band)
Genre: Angst, Chapter 1 Contains Strong Themes, Comedy, Contains Flashbacks, Drama, Friends to Lovers, Hinted: PanWink, M/M, Plot sometimes jumps from present day to the past, Will Eventually Contain Side Pairings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-02
Updated: 2018-11-02
Packaged: 2019-08-14 12:09:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,850
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16492334
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ramenrulz8P/pseuds/starlux
Summary: Jihoon and Woojin have been friends since they were kids. Even as adults, they're as close as can be.Both of them secretly want to be more, but they fear ruining a perfect friendship.When Woojin finds out their old clubhouse is about to be destroyed, all their friends gather up to try to save it.As they relive the most golden times in their lives, both Jihoon and Woojin find more reasons to confess. With the help of their friends, maybe they can?





	More of You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **WARNING** : There is a flashback in this chapter which contains a scene of **BULLYING** and **RACIAL SLURS** that leads to **MILD VIOLENCE**. I tried to make everything as mild as possible, but if anyone feels like I should add a label to that section - please let me know. The rest of this fic does not contain content like that.
> 
> Parts of this fic still need to be looked over, so please let me know if you see an error.
> 
> I'm really sorry about the terrible description TT_TT This AU is a little involved.

Woojin didn’t question the sounds of explosions and laser blasts that greeted him when he got home - even though he lived alone.

Only one person shamelessly used Woojin’s apartment like his own.

“Park Jihoon, how many times will I have to remind you that you don’t live here?”

Jihoon gave an acknowledging grunt, not looking up from the TV screen. He remained focused on his game, thrashing around in the barricade of pillows he’d set up. To an onlooker it might have seemed like Jihoon lived here.

“I don’t get why you’re in my apartment all the time when you have a nicer, larger, more expensive apartment which you said, and I quote, was ‘everything’ you wanted,” Woojin sighed as he walked to the kitchen to grab something to eat.

“I like it here more!” Jihoon yelled over the game. He said it so simply, as if those words were a reasonable justification.

Woojin rolled his eyes as he rummaged through his desolate pantry. Jihoon would never change. He’d act like he lived here to the point he finished off all of the snacks in Woojin’s pantry.

Even the fridge was void of leftovers and nothing inside could be cooked into a meal.

Hungry and desperate, Woojin counted off the days it had been since he last restocked - cursing when he realized it had been over a week since he’d gone grocery shopping.

Looks like his plans to stay in today had to be scrapped.

With heavy feet, Woojin shuffled through the living room, making his way to the door.

“Where are you going?”

Woojin jumped when Jihoon suddenly stood at his side.

The brown haired boy managed to hold back scream, but kept his voice even and annoyed, “To buy groceries since you ate all my food.”

“I’ll come with you,” Jihoon offered, not Woojin’s response as he started putting on his shoes.

Considering Jihoon hated having to leave the house, let alone leave the house to do chore, this revelation felt abnormal. But if Jihoon had been the one to suggest it, he was serious about coming along.

Woojin decided that arguing with Jihoon why he wanted to go would just be a waste of  time.

“Fine, but you’re paying for anything you pick up.”

As they stepped into the shared hallways lined with big heavy doors, Jihoon surprised Woojin again. “I’ll just pay for everything.”

Woojin must have looked shell shocked, because Jihoon cleared his throat and explained. “Like you said, I ate all your food. And since I practically live here too, I might as well pay my rent.”

On a normal day, Jihoon would have only come to help if Woojin offered to buy him dinner after. Had someone kidnapped his best friend and replaced him with a polite alien? Or maybe an even rare, phenomenon was occuring. Maybe Jihoon wanted to be openly nice for once...

“If you insist, Hoonie,” Woojin muttered, feeling slightly giddy at the prospect of having Jihoon pay for all his food.

* * *

 

By the time they finished shopping, their stomachs threatened to consume them. Their hunger had outgrown the need to rush home, so Woojin and Jihoon settled into a convenience store, piling up enough food for six people before going to the checkout counter. The cashier gawked at them but still managed to check them out since there was small line of people behind them.

Thankfully, everyone had been in a rush so the two of them had the microwaves to themselves.

They dumped their meals onto the small bar by the window and skillfully began preparing their meal.

While their ramen cups heated up, Woojin and Jihoon inhaled a roll of kimbap each. In the short four minutes, they’d managed to finish their entire roll.

After a short match of rock, paper, scissors, Woojin had been delegated to finish preparing their ramen. Jihoon, on the other hand, got to happily munch away at his chicken wrap.

Out of spite, Woojin took unnecessarily long dropping the garnish packets into the bowl. Jihoon must have noticed, because he grabbed Woojin by the shoulders and started shaking him - whining at him to hurry.

Woojin almost scoffed. It seemed the Jihoon that Woojin knew had returned.

“There,” Woojin said, placing a bowl in front of the seat next to him after he sloppily finished stirring. “Happy?”

Jihoon hopped into his seat and picked away at his bowl. Woojin sighed, preparing his own bowl, before heartily slurping it down. He’d nearly managed to finish his bowl of warm, normally spiced ramen when Jihoon started to struggle with his volcano ramen.

“How many years will it take before you stop eating this stuff? Didn’t you say you hated it?” Woojin chided, handing Jihoon a napkin to wipe the sauce on his lips.

Jihoon panted, sucking in air to cool his overheated tongue. His eyes watered as he wildly waved his hands to fan himself. “It hurts to eat it, but something about it so strangely addicting.”

Woojin didn’t know why he burst out laughing, but he couldn’t help it. It seemed like a strange metaphor to how he felt about Jihoon.

Jihoon’s face scrunched up as sweat started to drip from his forehead. He chugged down the bottle of water in front of him before drinking Woojin’s too. “Wooj, my mouth really hurts.”

“Hold on.”

The brown-haired boy rushed to the ice cream aisle and picked out the first ice cream bar he could get his hands on. He hurriedly purchased it and rushed back to Jihoon, who was now whimpering in pain. Jihoon grabbed at the ice cream like a grumpy child, only placated when he felt it’s cold sweetness on his tongue.

As Jihoon seemed to relax, Woojin finally noticed the ice cream he’d bought him. The familiar caramel bar of a Megaton Bomb.

To someone else, it might have been just another ice cream. But to Woojin, that particular brand held memories. Watching Jihoon happily munch away made Woojin feel like he was in middle school again.

* * *

 

Jihoon and Woojin didn’t start off as friends immediately. In fact, they hardly had reason to interact with one another.

When Jihoon moved into town, all the girls and a few boys swarmed around him, circling him and treating him like some kind of god. Jihoon took the attention with an uncomfortable stride and Woojin chose not to comment on it. He couldn’t be bothered by the rabid herd of adolescent girls.

As time went on, their distance only grew further. More and more people flocked to Jihoon not only because he was a transfer student, but also because he was a child celebrity. He’d had photos with various actresses and actors who he’d worked with in blockbusters and musicals. He’d been on TV. And to top it off, he’d even met Big Bang. THE Big Bang.

A small bit of envy boiled inside Woojin, but he had promised himself that he’d meet his favorite band on his own terms in the future. Woojin remained content with his position as class clown, beloved by his peers and adored by his hyungs.

The young boy considered himself lucky, because even though they embarrassed him, his hyungs would always walk with him to and from school. Since they all lived in the same neighborhood, it only made sense they go home together.

Part of Woojin would puff out his chest a little, carrying himself haughtily as he showed off his hyungs from the high school across the street. The whole class would have their attention on him, whether they openly showed it or not. Jihoon’s gaggle of fans would start squealing about the handsome sunbaes at the door, the rest of the class would mutter similar comments, but only Jihoon would stay silent.

Like everyone else, Jihoon would look over at Woojin, but oddly enough he was the only one who was silent. At first, Woojin had thought Jihoon was upset someone had taken the attention of his adoring fans, but Woojin noticed that the look on the school Pretty Boy’s face wasn’t anger or annoyance.

Jihoon looked almost sad- like he wished to have what Woojin did.

That day, the walk home felt longer than usual.

He thought about why Jihoon would look at that way, until he realized. Unlike everyone else in their school, Jihoon was one of the handful of people that didn’t live in high-rise apartments across town.

Jihoon lived with his grandma in a two-storey building on the same side of town as Woojin’s, just a block away from the place Woojin called home.

At first, Woojin wondered why he never saw Jihoon walk to and from school, but he remembered that Jihoon’s grandma was rich. She usually got around with a car and driver. Maybe Jihoon used that, too? That would explain why he’d never seen Jihoon walk to school before.

It made sense that Jihoon got driven around. His face was plastered on posters all over the country since he’d been the latest brand model for Milkis. Someone with a profile like that didn’t walk to and from school like normal school kid.

Or so Woojin thought.

The one day Woojin’s hyungs couldn’t pick him up from class was the one day that Jihoon’s grandma had taken the car to run errands.

Since his hyungs weren’t there to distract him from the hunger that plagued him after school, Woojin had to stop by a convenience store on the way home. He beelined to the ice cream fridge outside the small store and reached for the last Megaton Bomb.

Before he could, another hand swooped in and grabbed the bar.

Woojin was ready to fight whoever took _his_ ice cream.

“Just who the hell do you think you are?” Woojin spat, trailing his eyes up the to the boy’s face and seeing it was his classmate - Jihoon.

“Excuse me?” Jihoon’s voice rose with offense.

Woojin puffed out his chest, ready to fight. “That’s my ice cream!”

“I grabbed it first!” Jihoon shouted, holding the bar close to his chest.

“You saw me reaching for it and you still went in to grab it!”  Woojin pointed a finger in accusation.

The other boy turned red with anger. “That’s because I am buying it for someone else!”

Woojin snorted.  “Really? Who?”

Jihoon looked over his shoulder, like he was expecting someone to be standing there. His eyes went wide with panic. Woojin thought Jihoon was messing around until he tossed the bar at him before running off, shouting for someone named Guanlin.  

Woojin didn’t know why he followed Jihoon that day, but gut feeling made him put the bar back into the fridge and chase after the boy.

He caught up to Jihoon just in time to see him run into an alleyway. By the time he reached him, Jihoon threw a punch at some hefty kid around their age that was standing over a small boy that Woojin recognized.

It was the ten-year-old Taiwanese boy that stayed at Jihoon’s house.

Woojin barely had time to register the boy’s identity before he witnessed Jihoon get punched in the face. Jihoon flew back, glaring up at the boy who’d punched him. The bully’s friends laughed as Jihoon wiped away the blood that spilled from a fresh cut on his lips.

“I don’t understand why Pretty Boy got in the way. We just wanted to tell this fish-looking foreigner that he should learn some Korean or go back home to his mommy and daddy.”

As the group of boys sneered and laughed, Woojin felt his blood boil. He might not have known the kid they were teasing, but  he did know that throwing around comments like that was vile.

Anger clouded Woojin’s judgement as he charged in, drop-kicking one boy to the ground. His other friend tried to tackle Woojin, but Woojin grabbed his arm, flipping him over his shoulder and slamming him onto the ground. The one first boy he’d kicked slowly rose to his feet as Woojin punched and struggled with the last boy.

They’d all surrounded him in a matter of moments, shoved him into a wall. His head slammed painfully against the concrete, but he managed to stay on his feet.

He maintained a desperate stance, acting like a shield between the bullies and Guanlin. Jihoon joined him at his side, protectively covering Guanlin.

Had it been two-on-two, maybe they would have had a chance to fend the bullies off, but they were outnumbered. The two of them put in all their efforts to guarding Guanlin, making sure the younger boy remained out of the bullies’ reach.

“What’s going on here?” a deep voice from the opening of the alleyway rang out. The bullies immediately let go of Jihoon and Woojin.

Woojin’s vision was blurry since he was sure he’d gotten a black eye, but he could make out a familiar stocky figure.

“D-Dongho-hyung,” Woojin called out to the older boy who stepped into the alleyway.

“It’s not very nice to pick on people younger than you,” Kang Dongho addressed the three trembling bullies, who gulped as they saw how thick Dongho’s arm muscles were. “I should report you three to the police for harassment, but seeing as my friends got involved too….” He looked to Woojin and Jihoon before giving the bullies one final glare. “I’ll let you off with a warning.”

The three boys scurried away and Woojin collapsed against the wall.

“Thanks, hyung,” he managed to sputter out even though everything hurt. Woojin was pretty sure he had a black eye and nosebleed. Jihoon didn’t look that much better than him too.

Dongho glanced at them and frowned, but he didn’t comment. He stepped towards Guanlin, placing a hand on the small boy’s shoulders. The older boy spoke calmly, “Seonho was worried about you.”

Guanlin, who had been silent the entire time, started crying.

The sound was so piercing it blurred out everything else. Woojin couldn’t recall how he ended up sitting on a plastic chair in front of the store, or how Guanlin had been sent off to Seonho’s place. It was like he regained consciousness only when Jihoon started tending to his injuries.  Woojin remembered in vivid detail how a bandaged Jihoon wiped the cuts and scrapes on his hands and face.

Jihoon’s black hair was disheveled, and his bangs were tilted down to where Woojin couldn’t see his eyes. He worked silently, his fingers slightly clumsy as they rubbed against the wounds on Woojin’s hands. It hurt to the point that Woojin hissed at the pain, causing Jihoon to look up. His rounded eyes were glossier than usual.

He looked really pretty like that.

Woojin almost physically jerked his body at the thought. But he couldn’t freak out in front of Jihoon, so he just broke eye contact, searching for something that would keep him from looking back at the other boy.

That’s when he noticed they were alone. “Where’s Dongho-hyung and your friend?”

Jihoon went back to cleaning Woojin’s cuts. “Dongho-hyung is taking Guanlin to Seonho’s house for the evening. It’s probably better he stays with them for today.”

Woojin just nodded, trying to keep himself from staring at Jihoon. A hard task, since he was leaning over him.

“Excuse me for a moment,” Jihoon abruptly spoke after placing one last bandage on Woojin’s forehead.

Woojin didn’t get the chance to say _wait_ as the boy darted off inside the store, returning with the plastic bag in hand.

“Thank you… for helping when you didn’t have to…”

He wouldn’t meet Woojin’s eyes as he held out the bag to him.

Woojin took the bag, not because he wanted whatever was inside, but because he felt bad that Jihoon went so far out of his way. It wasn’t like he’d done anything really heroic.

“Those jerks deserved it. They shouldn’t be talking shit about people like that,” Woojin said softly as he saw the Megaton Bomb inside the bag.

He took the bar from it’s casing, splitting it in exactly half, before offering one half to Jihoon. “You worked hard too.”

Like a lost deer, Jihoon looked from the ice cream to Woojin, biting his lip in hesitation.

Woojin sighed, lifting his hand out further. “Take it. It’ll melt if I keep holding it out like this.”

The other boy relented. He devoured the ice cream at a rate that Woojin would have never guessed he could. All the girls talked about him like he was some kind of perfect boy that walked out of a manhwa. But from that view, Park Jihoon seemed very human.

And from that day on, Woojin got to know Park Jihoon and all his quirks. It confused their classmates to no end and threw off the balance of the school hierarchy for a few weeks. But soon everyone came to recognize Jihoon and Woojin were best friends.

Jihoon didn’t look on at him and the hyungs longingly anymore. Jihoon didn’t sit by himself at lunch anymore. Jihoon didn’t go home by himself anymore.

Instead, Woojin and Jihoon became inseparable.

Woojin finally had someone other than the hyungs to talk him out of silly pranks - or on rare occasion, join him. Jihoon always tried to keep Woojin from doing something extreme and Woojin always tried to take Jihoon out of his comfort shell. They got into more fights with each other than anyone else, but that’s just how their relationship was.

Always keep each other on their toes.

Woojin’s life had never felt like it was missing something, but he couldn’t deny that his life felt fuller with Jihoon in it. Like Jihoon had always meant to be there.

Through Jihoon, Woojin got to know Guanlin - the brilliant and oddly hilarious - younger kid that he’d protected. It made him feel worse that someone as nice as that got picked on, so he made sure to stick with him to ensure he had more friends.

Through Woojin, Jihoon and Guanlin assimilated into their growing circle of neighborhood friends. Sometimes even, Guanlin’s friend Seonho would join them, even though he lived nowhere near the neighborhood.

It became a normal occurance for them all to sit at Woojin’s family’s snack shop and recount how their days had gone.

One day, when it had been Seonho’s turn, Guanlin had made a valiant effort to keep his hyper friend from speaking.

The smaller boy managed to slip past him, hiding behind Minhyun as he quickly spat out, “Today the substitute messed up! He didn’t know how to read Guanlin’s name and called him Lee Guanlin!”

“Shut up, Seonho!” Guanlin snapped, trying to reach for the boy. “Sorry, hyungs, ignore him. He’s crazy.”

Everyone else at the table tried to hold back their laughs for Guanlin’s sake. Jihoon looked almost bemused.

He smiled at Guanlin, a grin that was reassuring and bright. “Lee Guanlin… it suits you.”

It seemed like a casual, consoling statement, but Woojin saw how it made Guanlin beam.

An unknown dread settled over Woojin that night.

Back then, he didn’t know what jealousy was.

* * *

 

“Earth to Woojin.” Jihoon waved a hand in front of his face, pulling Woojin back to the present. “What’s got you spacing out?”

“Just remembering old things,” he muttered, hoping Jihoon might drop the subject.

“Like what?” the older boy pried, leaning in towards Woojin to stare him down.

Woojin stared back at Jihoon, maintaining the small distance between them. In his mind, he’d thought about telling Jihoon the truth for ages. His feelings towards Jihoon felt like a rising tide being drawn higher and higher by the pull of the moon.

It was always hard to hold back.

But he had to.

“Like when we all started calling Guanlin ‘ _Lee Guanlin’_?” Woojin casually mentioned, feeling a bit disappointed when Jihoon drew back.

“Ah, those days were the best.” Jihoon’s whole face lit up. “You know, he still likes being called that.”

“Of course, he does.” Woojin rolled his eyes, leaning back in his chair and spinning around. The words were a reminder to Woojin.

Guanlin and Jihoon had been at the weird junction of almost lovers for the past five years.

Ever since his trip to Taipei, Jihoon seemed enamoured by Guanlin - the boy he’d initially regarded as a younger brother. All Jihoon could talk about after his trip was Guanlin. And all Woojin could do was listen.

Since then, the frequency at which Guanlin was mentioned had slowed. But his name remained present between them, leaving Woojin to hold his confession.

“So,” Jihoon started, taking an obnoxious slurp of his soda before speaking again, “Are you going to tell me who you’re dating or not?”

“What?” Woojin recoiled. _What the hell was Jihoon talking about?_

The pink haired boy shoved Woojin’s shoulder. “Come on,” he urged. “Who’s the guy you’ve been facetiming?”

At that, Woojin’s eyes went wide. “Wha-how did you even find out about that?”

Woojin had made it a point that Jihoon wasn’t around when he called Hyungseob. For whatever reason, there had been some unsettled tension between the two of them and Woojin didn’t want to stir it. Hyungseob understood, but choose to remain Woojin’s friend.

They’d only facetimed because Hyungseob asked Woojin to help make choreography for his next comeback.

“I know everything about you, Park Woojin.” Jihoon pompously stuck his nose out.

“Sure.” Woojin didn’t even attempt to hide his sneer.

Jihoon almost opened his mouth to say something, but Woojin’s phone rang.

Both of them locked eyes, recognizing the ring tone. It was Woojin’s mom.

The brown-haired boy lifted the phone to his ear and answered, “Hey, Ma… yeah, I’m good. Why’d ya call?...Yerim what?! I’ll be home tomorrow, Ma. Don’t worry.”

Curses streamed out of Woojin’s mouth as he immediately searched for train tickets home.

“What happened? Why are you freaking out?” Jihoon hovered over Woojin, not knowing what to do.

“Yerim broke her leg and my mom has that big catering gig tomorrow. She asked me to come help.” Woojin didn’t look up from his phone as his fingers worked frantically across the screen to confirm his booking.

Jihoon processed Woojin’s words with a frown. “What about your dad?”

“He’s in Japan right now.” The growing agitation in Woojin’s voice made itself apparent.

A hand gripped at Woojin’s shoulder, drawing him away from him from his problems. “Should I come with you?”

Jihoon’s concern kept Woojin’s heart racing.

“Don’t you have a shoot tomorrow?” He wished he hadn’t memorized Jihoon’s schedule.

“Shit, right…” The pink-haired boy ran a hand down his face. “Call me, okay? Just let me know if you need me, I’ll be there in a heartbeat.”

Woojin nodded in thanks, not trusting his voice.

They exited the convenience store, towards Woojin’s car that had been parked on the street side.

Woojin had naturally been walking towards the driver’s side when he noticed Jihoon wasn’t following. He paused before he could step off the sidewalk and turned to the pink haired boy.

“Aren’t I driving you home?”

Jihoon shook his head.

“I’ll just walk myself back.”

Woojin looked at his friend, feeling bad that he had to leave him like this. “See ya, Jihoon.”

“See ya, Woojin,” Jihoon answered softly. His tender gaze made Woojin want to stay in the moment a little longer. But the moment ended as quickly as it happened. The pink-haired boy darted down the street, disappearing around the corner, out of Woojin’s sight.

* * *

 

The moment Woojin came home, his mother put him to work. Instead of looking after the store, he was forced to look after Yerim for the day. Normally, she was a mild nuisance, but she’d become especially obnoxious today. She called Woojin by ringing a bell and she would keep ringing it until he answered her.

He couldn’t even eat his lunch in peace because of her.

“What do you want, brat?” he said, holding back his malice.

Yerim noticed, letting out a scandalized gasp. “Is that any way to speak to someone who’s injured?”

Woojin gave her an unimpressed look, waiting for her to get to the point.

She instantly noticed and held up her phone, showing him a photo of milk tea served with rose petals. “Buy me this,” she ordered, knowing full well that Woojin would risk his mother’s wrath if he refused her.

“It’s by that dumb old clubhouse you used to go to with all your friends,” Yerim playfully added as she leaned back into her pillows.

Woojin gave her a dissatisfied look before marching out of the room to put on a sweatshirt. He practically ran out of the house as fast as he could. His mom wouldn’t scold him if Yerim sent him out. Woojin wanted to savor his time alone.

A little blip of red on his map indicated Yerim had been telling the truth. The cafe was indeed right down the street from his old clubhouse. Woojin closed his phone, tucking it away as he walked. He wouldn’t need navigation to guide him. This was a path he as familiar to him as the road home. It lead to a place he’d once called his own, but learned to share with a select group of boys from his neighborhood.

* * *

 

Adventurous little five year old Woojin wanted to go see the abandoned building at the edge of town. He managed to convince two eight-year-old boys to come with him, but they couldn’t go without their hyungs. Daniel and Jaehwan begged Sungwoon and Jisung to come with them, and eventually Jisung caved. Sungwoon followed, probably because he didn’t want to be left by himself.

They discovered a well-kept building with functioning lighting that led to a big open space. A bunch of random pieces of furniture - some broken, some functional - were scattered along the edges of the biggest room. It was just a large empty space, but Woojin was taken by it.

And so were the others.

As people came and went, and their friend circle grew, they brought more people to the clubhouse. Daniel brought Seongwoo when he moved in. A year after that, Jaehwan brought in Minhyun. When Woojin’s childhood friend Daehwi moved into the neighborhood, he dragged his friend Jinyoung to join him. And eventually, Woojin introduced Jihoon and Guanlin to the clubhouse.

The rest was history.

* * *

 

Curiosity came over Woojin. He couldn’t resist walking the short distance down the road from the cafe after he’d bought his sister her drinks. It felt a fever dream to see an area that once was thick with brush hardly have any trees in sight.

Did they develop on the land because this was happening? Or was this happening because of development?

Seeing the building through the rusty chain link fence made Woojin sad. It was in even worse shape than before. There were more cracks along the side and all kinds of dried vegetations sprouted from it.

Woojin moved to the entrance, trying to get a closer look to be stopped by thick chains. Hanging on the gate was a bright yellow sign inundated with big red letters.

_Demolition Notice_

The words slapped him across his face. His heart sank.

Even if he hadn’t been here in a long time. Even if none of his friends came back to visit it.

This was his second home. A place filled with what Woojin considered to be the happiest memories of his life.

Seeing that sign was like being told an old friend was on their deathbed.

What hurt worse was knowing half the people who shared this place with him, shared those memories with him, might not even know. Or care.

But he felt obligated to do something, he just wasn’t sure what.

The bag of milk tea dripped onto his designer shoes, reminding him he had to go home.

Yerim threw her shoe at him him for returning with diluted milk tea, but Woojin soulessly dodged. Her curses were drowned out by his thoughts as he trudged back to his childhood bedroom.

Most of his possessions had been shifted to his apartment, but a few of his belongings remained, scattered around the room.

Specifically, a box of photo albums from days long passed.

Woojin pulled out the only unfinished album, flipping to the page that held the last photo of all eleven of them together. They surrounded one of the couches outside the clubhouse, looking out at the town in the distance. Woojin remembers their laughter and their smiles in that moment like it hadn’t been seven whole years since then. They had promised to stay like that forever, but life got in the way. Everyone tried their best to stay in touch, but as families started moving out of the neighborhood, one by one, no one returned. No one else had a reason to.

An idea stirred in Woojin’s head as he looked at his contacts list.  It wasn’t too late just yet. He could remedy this if he just reached out.

And he knew exactly who to call first.

“Daehwi, I’ve got some news for you.”

**Author's Note:**

> I've been working on this AU since last year. And after months and months of fighting myself, I finally figured out how I wanted to write it. I'm really scared to post a multichaptered fic that's not finished yet, but I will try to finish it ASAP. This fic was written not just for Woojin's birthday, but from an idea I had ever since I saw Energetic. It's my way of coping with d**********. I know it's not perfect and there are a lot of flaws in my writing, but I wanted to share the world I've been holding in my heart for so long. Maybe I can help you guys find closure too. 
> 
> I don't have an update schedule for this, it will happen when it happens - so if you don't see me til like December I'm sorry in advance TT_TT
> 
> Thank you so much to [tsunwrites](https://twitter.com/tsunwrites) for being the best editor and friend I could ask for and going hard on this <3
> 
> You can find me at on twitter [@ramenrulz8P](https://twitter.com/ramenrulz8P) if you want to scream at me.


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